GetWiki

{{pp-pc|small=yes}}{{short description|Leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (born c. 1961)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}{{EngvarB|date=December 2014}}

factoids

| term_end = | term_start = August 1987| battles = Lord's Resistance Army insurgencyGeneral officer>General| serviceyears = 1987–present| branch = | allegiance = Lord's Resistance Army| data1 = Christianity| blank1 = Religion| relatives = | native_name = | parents = Odek, Northern Region, Uganda>Northern Region, Protectorate of Uganda1961}}| successor1 = | predecessor1 = Office established| caption = | image = | image_size = 250px| order = Head of the Lord's Resistance Army| native_name_lang = | death_cause = }}Joseph Rao Kony (born {{Circa|1961}}) is a Ugandan militant and warlord who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union, and various other governments. An Acholi, Kony served as an altar boy in his childhood. After the Ugandan Civil War, Kony participated in the subsequent insurgency against president Yoweri Museveni under the Holy Spirit Movement or the Uganda People's Democratic Army before founding the LRA in 1987. Aiming to create a Christian state based on dominion theology, Kony directed the multi-decade Lord's Resistance Army insurgency. After Kony's terror activities, he was banished from Uganda and shifted to South Sudan. Kony described himself as a freedom fighter, struggling for a Christian Uganda.Kony has long been one of Africa's most notorious and most wanted militant warlords. He has been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become child soldiers and sex slaves. Approximately 66,000 children became soldiers, and 2 million people were displaced internally from 1986 to 2009 by his forces. Kony was indicted in 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but he has evaded capture. He has been subject to an Interpol Red Notice at the ICC's request since 2006. Since the Juba peace talks in 2006, the Lord's Resistance Army no longer operates in Uganda. Sources claim that they are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), or South Sudan. In 2013, Kony was reported to be in poor health, and Michel Djotodia, president of the CAR, claimed he was negotiating with Kony to surrender.{{asof|alt=By April 2017|2017|4}}, Kony was still at large, but his force was reported to have shrunk to approximately 100 soldiers, down from an estimated high of 3,000. Both the United States and Uganda ended the hunt for Kony and the LRA, believing that the LRA was no longer a significant security risk to Uganda. As of 2022, he is reported to be hiding in Darfur.

Early life and family

Kony was born in {{Circa|1961}} in Odek, Northern Region, Uganda.NEWS, Howden, Daniel, 8 November 2008, The deadly cult of Joseph Kony, The Independent,weblink live, 7 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120310145815weblink">weblink 10 March 2012, ENCYCLOPEDIA,weblink Joseph Kony, Craine, Anthony, Encyclopædia Britannica, 30 July 2017,weblink 14 June 2012, live, WEB, How a Ugandan rebel leader ended up at the ICC,weblink 2021-09-15, Deutsche Welle, NEWS, Halliday, Josh, 8 March 2012, Kony 2012 documentary on Ugandan warlord is unlikely viral phenomenon, The Guardian,weblink 8 November 2022, His father, Luizi Obol, was a farmer and lay catechist of the Catholic Church.{{Sfn|Green|2008|p=215}} Kony's mother, Nora Oting, was an Anglican and also a farmer. His older sister, Gabriela Lakot, still lives in Odek.NEWS, Samura, Sorious, Sorious Samura, 20 August 2012, Joseph Kony's sister tells of family's 'curse',weblink Panorama (TV series), Panorama, BBC, 20 August 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120820020907weblink">weblink 20 August 2012, live, He is a member of the Acholi people.{{Sfn|Green|2008|p=215}}WEB, Fischer, Hilke, Wanjohi, Coletta, 17 December 2014, The Lord's Resistance Army,weblink 12 September 2021, Deutsche Welle, He was either the youngest or second-youngest of six children in the family.{{sfnm|1a1=Cline|1y=2013|1p=12}} Kony enjoyed a good relationship with his siblings, but was quick to retaliate in a dispute and when confronted would often resort to physical violence.BOOK, Briggs, Jimmie,weblink Innocents Lost: When child soldiers go to war, Basic Books, 2005, 0-465-00798-8, 105–144, Jimmie Briggs, registration, Kony never finished elementary school.{{sfnm|1a1=Cline|1y=2013|1p=12}} He was an altar boy until 1976. He dropped out of school at age 15.Kony married Selly and together they had a son, Ali Ssalongo Kony.WEB, 2023-09-21, How Kony family walked into Gen Museveni's care,weblink 2023-09-22, Monitor, en,

Rebel leader

In 1995, Kony rose to prominence in Acholiland after the Holy Spirit Movement of Alice Auma (also known as Lakwena and to whom Kony is believed to be related). The overthrow of Acholi President Tito Okello by Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA) during the Ugandan Bush War (1981–1986) had culminated in mass looting of livestock, rape, burning of homes, genocide, and murder by Museveni's army.WEB, What is the present government attitude and treatment of members of Acholi tribe,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130609222605weblink">weblink 9 June 2013, 16 April 2013, refworld, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, The acts committed by the Museveni's NRA, now known as the Uganda People's Defence Force, led to Kony's creation of the LRA. The insurgencies gave rise to concentration camps in northern Uganda where over 2 million people were confined. The government burned people's properties using helicopter gunships, killing many. There were forced displacements in the northern region. International campaigns called for all camps to be dismantled and for the people to return to their former villages.WEB, Uganda,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130419024117weblink">weblink 19 April 2013, 17 April 2013, International Displacement Monitoring Centre, JOURNAL, Ruddy Doom and Koen Vlassenroot, 1999, Kony's message: A new Koine? The Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, African Affairs, 98, 390, 5–36, 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a008002, 111914560, "Interview with Vincent Otti, LRA second in command" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083137weblink|date=29 September 2007}} and " A leadership based on claims of divine revelations" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120859weblink|date=29 September 2007}} in IRIN In Depth, June 2007.WEB, 2014-11-06, Joseph Kony is hiding out on Sudan border, report claims,weblink 2021-09-11, The Guardian, France-Presse, In 2006, in the Juba peace talks with the LRA rebels, Museveni's government gave permission for local people to return to their villages. This marked the beginning of the rehabilitation of homes, roads, and so on.NEWS, 16 October 2010, Four African nations crack down on LRA, BBC News,weblink live, 11 February 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120320125047weblink">weblink 20 March 2012, NEWS, 13 August 2006, Ugandan army 'kills senior rebel', BBC News,weblink live, 7 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130728114728weblink">weblink 28 July 2013,

Lord's Resistance Army

{{Further|Lord's Resistance Army}}Kony has been implicated in abduction and recruitment of child soldiers. The LRA has had battle confrontations with the government's NRA or UPDF within Uganda and in South Sudan for ten years. In 2008 the Ugandan army invaded the DRC in search for the LRA in Operation Lightning Thunder.NEWS, Zibwa, Mutai, 2 March 2012, UPDF in Kony hunt accused of rape, looting,weblink The Observer (Uganda), The Observer, 17 April 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131213171715weblink">weblink 13 December 2013, live, In November 2013, Kony was reported to be in poor health in the eastern CAR town of Nzoka.NEWS, Joseph Kony: US doubts LRA rebel leader's surrender,weblink BBC News, 21 November 2013, 27 May 2018,weblink 21 November 2018, live, Looking back at the LRA's campaign of violence, The Guardian stated in 2015 that Kony's forces had been responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 and the abduction of at least 60,000 children. Various atrocities committed include raping young girls and abducting them for use as sex slaves.NEWS, Baddorf, Zack, 20 April 2017, Uganda Ends Its Hunt for Joseph Kony Empty-Handed, The New York Times,weblink live, 21 April 2017,weblink 7 January 2018, NEWS, Mark, Monica, 21 November 2013, Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony 'in talks' with Central African Republic, The Guardian,weblink live, 23 November 2013,weblink 7 December 2016, PRESS RELEASE, Warrant of Arrest unsealed against five LRA Commanders,weblink International Criminal Court, 14 October 2005, 2 June 2009, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131212163344weblink">weblink 12 December 2013, WEB, 19 May 2009, Read The Bill: H.R. 2478,weblink live,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110203034510weblink">weblink 3 February 2011, 11 July 2011, GovTrack.us, The actual number of LRA militia members has varied significantly over the years, reaching as high as 3000 soldiers. By 2017, the organization's membership had shrunk significantly to an estimated 100 soldiers. In April 2017, both the US and Ugandan governments ended efforts to find Kony and fight the LRA, stating that the LRA no longer posed a significant security risk to Uganda.NEWS, Smith, David, David Smith (journalist), 7 January 2015, Surrender of senior aide to Joseph Kony is major blow to Lord's Resistance Army,weblink The Guardian, 24 March 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160329025434weblink">weblink 29 March 2016, live, While initially purporting to fight against government oppression, the LRA allegedly turned against Kony's own supporters, supposedly to "purify" the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy.WEB, Wanted: Joseph Kony,weblink 2021-09-15, U.S. Department of State, WEB, 18 December 2017, Top 10 Most Wanted Criminals in the World 2018,weblink 21 November 2019, Improb, en-US, WEB, 25 November 2008, Top 10 Fugitives in the World Still on the Run,weblink 18 January 2020, Toptenz.net, en-US, WEB, 2020-03-10, Kony's rebels remain a threat, but they're also selling honey to get by {{!, African Arguments |url=https://africanarguments.org/2020/03/joseph-kony-lra-rebels-threat-selling-honey/ |access-date=2021-09-15 |language=en-GB}} Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom. Ideologically, the group is a syncretic mix of mysticism, Acholi nationalism, and heterodox Christian fundamentalism, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition.{{#tag:ref|BOOK, The Scars of Death: Children Abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, September 1997, Human Rights Watch, 1564322211, 32, 72,weblink 25 April 2012, JOURNAL, 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a008002, Kony's Message: A New Koine?the Lord's Resistance Army in Northern Uganda, African Affairs, 98, 390, 5–36, 1999, Doom, R, Vlassenroot, K, 111914560, NEWS, Drogin, Bob, Bob Drogin, 1 April 1996, Ugandan Rebels Terrorize in the Name of the Lord,weblink Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160303191424weblink">weblink 3 March 2016, live, NEWS, Lamb, Christina, Christina Lamb, 2 March 2008, The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted by Matthew Green,weblink The Times, 2 March 2008, subscription, NEWS, McKinley Jr., James C., James C. McKinley Jr., 5 March 1997, Christian Rebels Wage a War of Terror in Uganda,weblink The New York Times, 8 December 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170625172603weblink">weblink 25 June 2017, live, NEWS, McGreal, Chris, Chris McGreal, 13 March 2008, Museveni refuses to hand over rebel leaders to war crimes court,weblink The Guardian, 8 December 2013,weblink 2 February 2017, live, NEWS, Boustany, Nora, 19 March 2008, Ugandan Rebel Reaches Out to International Court,weblink The Washington Post, 8 December 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170707010842weblink">weblink 7 July 2017, live, BOOK, Haynes, Jeffrey, Politics in the developing world, Wiley-Blackwell, 2002, 121, 9780631225560, NEWS, McLaughlin, Abraham, 31 December 2004, The End of Uganda's Mystic Rebel?,weblink The Christian Science Monitor, 27 May 2018,weblink 27 May 2018, live, THESIS, Muth, Rachel, 8 May 2008, Child Soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army: Factors in the Rehabilitation and Reintegration Process, MA thesis, George Mason University, 1920/3005, 23, BOOK, Martin, Gus, Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues, SAGE, 2006, 196–197, 978-1-4129-2722-2, {{*}}"Interview with Vincent Otti, LRA second in command" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083137weblink |date=29 September 2007 }} and "A leadership based on claims of divine revelations" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120859weblink |date=29 September 2007 }} in IRIN In Depth, June 2007}}

Indictment

In October 2006, the ICC announced that arrest warrants had been issued for five members of the Lord's Resistance Army for crimes against humanity following a sealed indictment. On the next day, Ugandan defense minister Amama Mbabazi revealed that the warrants include Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, and LRA commanders Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen. The Ugandan army killed Lukwiya on 12 August 2006.NEWS, 13 August 2006, Ugandan army 'kills senior rebel', BBC News,weblink live, 7 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130728114728weblink">weblink 28 July 2013, The BBC received information that Otti had been killed on 2 October 2007, at Kony's home.NEWS, Otti 'executed by Uganda rebels',weblink BBC News, 21 December 2007, 8 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120311075838weblink">weblink 11 March 2012, live, In November 2006, Kony met Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.NEWS, UN envoy sees Uganda rebel chief,weblink BBC News, 12 November 2006, 8 December 2013, Journeyman Pictures released a 2006 interview with Kony in which he proclaims: "I am a freedom fighter, not a terrorist."{{YouTube|id=dWiF9hSgyoU|title=Joseph Kony's defiant interview: the only ever interview with Kony}} He told Reuters: "We don't have any children. We only have combatants."WEB,weblink [AlertNet], 29 July 2007,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071205161329weblink">weblink 5 December 2007, live, {{subscription required}}Prosecutors at the ICC applied for an in absentia hearing to confirm the charges against Kony in November 2022, and in 2024 the hearing was scheduled for 15 October.WEB,weblink ICC judges allow trial against Uganda rebel Joseph Kony to move forward in his absence, Jurist, 5 March 2024, Malaika, Grafe, Kony will be represented by a court-appointed lawyer if he has not been captured when the hearing, the first of its kind to take place at the ICC, takes place.NEWS,weblink International Criminal Court to hold first ever in absentia hearing over Ugandan rebel leader Kony, The Associated Press, 4 March 2024,

Religious beliefs

Kony's followers, as well as some detractors, believe he is possessed by spirits. Kony tells his child soldiers that a cross on their chest drawn in oil will protect them from bullets. He is a proponent of polygamy, and is thought to have had 60 wives,NEWS,weblink Joseph Kony: Profile of the LRA leader, 8 March 2012, BBC News, 2 February 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180204104508weblink">weblink 4 February 2018, live, and to have fathered 42 children.{{Sfn|Green|2008|p=215}}{{rp|page 136}} Kony insists that he and the LRA are fighting for the Ten Commandments,WEB, Religious Beliefs of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army,weblink 2023-06-17, www.nytimes.com, and defended his actions in an interview, saying, "Is it bad? It is not against human rights. And that commandment was not given by Joseph. It was not given by LRA. No, those commandments were given by God."NEWS, Farmar, Sam, 28 June 2006, I will use the Ten Commandments to liberate Uganda,weblink The Times, 8 December 2013, subscription,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131222172129weblink">weblink 22 December 2013, live, Ugandan political leader Betty Bigombe recalled that Kony and his followers used oil to ward off bullets and evil spirits.NEWS, Nora, Boustany, 11 July 2007, The Woman Behind Uganda's Peace Hopes,weblink The Washington Post, 21 October 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120330053414weblink">weblink 30 March 2012, live, Kony claims to be a spirit medium. In 2008, responding to a request by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to engage in peace talks via telephone, he said, "I will communicate with Museveni through the holy spirits and not through the telephone."NEWS,weblink Uganda: Museveni accepts direct Kony talks, ReliefWeb, 2 February 2018, en,weblink 3 February 2018, live, During peace talks in 1994, Kony was preceded by men in robes sprinkling holy water. According to Francis Ongom, a former LRA officer who defected, Kony "has found Bible justifications for killing witches, for killing [those who farm or eat] pigs because of the story of the Gadarene swine, and for killing [other] people because God did the same with Noah's flood and Sodom and Gomorrah."NEWS, Hitchens, Christopher, Christopher Hitchens, January 2006, Childhood's End,weblink Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair, 8 December 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131212101315weblink">weblink 12 December 2013, live,

Action against Kony

Uganda

Before the insurgency, he escaped in 1989 to Uganda. He was later captured by the Ugandan government. He was released in 1992 after the government no longer viewed him as a threat.{{sfnm|1a1=Cline|1y=2013|1p=11}}The Ugandan military has attempted to kill Kony throughout the insurgency. In Uganda's attempt to track down Kony, former LRA combatants have been enlisted to search remote areas of the CAR, Sudan, and the DRC where he was last seen.NEWS, Gettleman, Jeffrey, Jeffrey Gettleman, 10 April 2010, Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End a War,weblink The New York Times, 11 July 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110715050636weblink">weblink 15 July 2011, live,

United States

After the September 11 attacks, the United States designated the LRA a terrorist group.WEB,weblink Statement on the Designation of 39 Organizations on the USA PATRIOT Act's Terrorist Exclusion List, Philip T. Reeker, U.S. Department of State, 6 December 2001, 15 February 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120312082418weblink">weblink 12 March 2012, live, In August 2008, the US Department of State declared Kony a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224, a designation that carries financial and other penalties.WEB, 29 August 2008, In the Matter of the Designation of: Joseph Kony as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Pursuant to Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as Amended,weblink 23 September 2020, Federal Register, In November 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the directive to the United States Africa Command to provide financial and logistical assistance to the Ugandan government during the unsuccessful 2008–2009 Garamba offensive, code-named Operation Lightning Thunder.NEWS, Gettleman, Jeffrey, Schmitt, Eric, Eric P. Schmitt, 6 February 2009, U.S. Aided a Failed Plan to Rout Ugandan Rebels,weblink The New York Times, 12 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120318044001weblink">weblink 18 March 2012, live, No U.S. troops were directly involved. 17 U.S. advisers and analysts provided intelligence, equipment, and fuel to Ugandan military counterparts. The offensive pushed Kony from his jungle camp, but he was not captured. One hundred children were rescued.NEWS, Gettleman, Jeffrey, Schmitt, Eric, Eric P. Schmitt, 6 February 2009, U.S. Aided a Failed Plan to Rout Ugandan Rebels,weblink The New York Times, 12 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120318044001weblink">weblink 18 March 2012, live, In May 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act,NEWS,weblink LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, Resolve Uganda, 24 May 2010, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110728100518weblink">weblink 28 July 2011, legislation aimed at stopping Kony and the LRA. The bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate on 11 March. On 12 May 2010, a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill was agreed to by voice vote (two-thirds being in the affirmative) in the House of Representatives.2010 Congressional Record, Page H3416. In November 2010, Obama delivered a strategy document to Congress asking for more funding to disarm Kony and the LRA.NEWS, Michael J., Kavanagh, Obama Administration Asks for Funds to Boost Uganda's Fight Against Rebels,weblink Bloomberg L.P., Bloomberg, 25 November 2010, 15 October 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120310013223weblink">weblink 10 March 2012, live, In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa.NEWS, Gerson, Michael, Michael Gerson, 26 January 2011, Joseph Kony and the international effort to bring him to justice,weblink The Washington Post, 6 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120308211539weblink">weblink 8 March 2012, live, Their goal is to help regional forces remove Kony and senior LRA leaders from the battlefield. In a letter to Congress, Obama wrote: "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense".NEWS, Jackson, David, 14 October 2011, Obama dispatches 100 troops to Africa,weblink USA Today, 8 December 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150329011930weblink">weblink 29 March 2015, live, NEWS, Tapper, Jake, Jake Tapper, 14 October 2011, Obama Sends 100 US Troops to Uganda to Help Combat Lord's Resistance Army,weblink ABC News, 8 December 2013,weblink 8 December 2013, live, On 3 April 2013, the Obama administration offered rewards of up to US$5 million for information leading to the arrest, transfer, or conviction of Kony, Ongwen, and Odhiambo.NEWS, Levy, Gabrielle, 3 April 2013, $5 million bounty offered for Joseph Kony,weblink United Press International, 4 April 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130416022818weblink">weblink 16 April 2013, live, WEB,weblink Wanted: Joseph Kony, Office of Global Criminal Justice, United States Department of State, 8 December 2013, WEB,weblink Wanted: Dominic Ongwen, Office of Global Criminal Justice, United States Department of State, 8 December 2013, WEB,weblink Wanted: Okot Odhiambo, Office of Global Criminal Justice, United States Department of State, 8 December 2013, On 24 March 2014, the U.S. announced it would deploy at least four CV-22 Ospreys and refuelling planes, and 150 Air Force special forces personnel to assist in the capture of Kony.WEB,weblink Joseph Kony: US military planes to hunt LRA leader, BBC, 24 March 2014, 24 March 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140324134210weblink">weblink 24 March 2014, live,

African Union

On 23 March 2012, the African Union announced its intentions to "send 5,000 soldiers to join the hunt for rebel leader Joseph Kony" and to "neutralize" him while isolating the scattered LRA groups responsible for 2,600 civilian killings since 2008. This international task force was said to include soldiers "from Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Congo, countries where Kony's reign of terror has been felt over the years." Before this announcement, the hunt for Kony had primarily been carried out by troops from Uganda. The soldiers began their search in South Sudan on 24 March 2012, and the search "will last until Kony is caught".NEWS, Muhumuza, Rodney, 23 March 2012, Kony 2012: African Union ramps up hunt for Uganda rebel leader in wake of viral video,weblink Toronto Star, Associated Press, 23 March 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120325231650weblink">weblink 25 March 2012, live,

Kony 2012

Kony and the LRA received a surge of attention in early March 2012, when a 30-minute documentary, Kony 2012, by US filmmaker Jason Russell for the campaign group Invisible Children, Inc. was released.NEWS, Ngak, Chenda, 8 March 2012, Invisible Children's "Kony 2012" viral video stirs emotion and controversy,weblink CBS News, 8 December 2013,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131214160705weblink">weblink 14 December 2013, live, The intention of the production was to draw attention to Kony in an effort to increase US involvement in the issue and have Kony arrested by the end of 2012.NEWS, Myers, Julia, 7 March 2012, A call for justice,weblinkweblink" title="archive.today/20120713191826weblink">weblink dead, 13 July 2012, The Kentucky Kernel, 8 December 2013, A poll suggested that more than half of young adult Americans heard about Kony 2012 in the days following its release. Several weeks after its release, a resolution condemning Kony and supporting US assistance fighting the LRA was introduced in the US Senate, passing several months later.WEB,weblink My star in the sky: Movie screening and reception, NEWS, Kanczula, Antonia, 20 April 2012, Kony 2012 in numbers,weblink The Guardian, 20 April 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131203163209weblink">weblink 3 December 2013, live, NEWS, Curtis, Polly, McCarthy, Tom, 20 April 2012, Kony 2012: what happens next?,weblink The Guardian, 22 April 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131016125101weblink">weblink 16 October 2013, live, NEWS,weblink Senate passes resolution condemning Joseph Kony, Cox, Ramsey, 3 August 2012, TheHill, 2 February 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180203064602weblink">weblink 3 February 2018, live, Kony 2012 has been criticized for simplifying the history of the LRA conflict, and for failing to note that Kony was already pushed out of Uganda six years before the film was made.NEWS,weblink Joseph Kony 2012: growing outrage in Uganda over film, Pflanz, Mike, The Daily Telegraph, 8 March 2012, 2 February 2018, en-GB, 0307-1235,weblink 27 May 2018, live, NEWS, Curtis, Polly, MacCarthy, Tom, The Guardian, 8 March 2014,weblink Kony 2012 – What's the story?, 11 December 2016,weblink 5 January 2017, live,

Surrender of Ongwen

Dominic Ongwen served as a key member of the LRA and constituted one of Kony's senior aides in the organization. Kidnapped as a child, he became a soldier in the LRA, then rose through the organization's hierarchy. Ongwen surrendered himself to representatives of the CAR in January 2015, which was a major blow to Kony's group. Ugandan army spokesman Paddy Ankunda stated that the event "puts the LRA in the most vulnerable position" and that it "is only Kony left standing".Of the five LRA commanders charged by the ICC in 2004, only Kony remained at large at that time. With only a few hundred fighters remaining loyal to him, it was mistakenly thought that he would be unable to evade capture much longer. In February 2021, Ongwen was convicted by the International Criminal Court of 61 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.WEB, Dominic Ongwen declared guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Uganda, International Criminal Court, 4 February 2021,weblink 5 February 2021,

LRA neutralization and U.S. stand-down

In April 2017, Ugandan and US military forces ended their hunt for Kony and his group, with a Ugandan spokesperson saying, "the LRA no longer poses a threat to us as Uganda". At that time, his force was estimated to have shrunk to around 100 soldiers.

Current whereabouts

In April 2022, DW News reported that a number of LRA members said Kony was hiding in the Darfur region of Sudan. From there, he was allegedly giving orders to his fighters. One former member said that the fighters were "tired and unmotivated", and leaving in favor of living a normal life.WEB, Is Joseph Kony hiding in Darfur? – DW – 04/14/2022,weblink 2023-03-15, dw.com, en, Kony was previously provided with armed and logistical support from former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.WEB, 2023-01-04, Uganda: Joseph Kony, the one that got away,weblink 2023-03-15, The Africa Report.com, en-US,

See also

• International Criminal Court investigations
• Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
• List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
• Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

References

{{Reflist|25em}}

Bibliography

• BOOK, Briggs, Jimmie, Jimmie Briggs, The Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War,weblink registration, Basic Books, 2005, 0-465-00798-8,
• BOOK, Bussman, Jane, Jane Bussmann, The Worst Date Ever: War Crimes, Hollywood Heart-Throbs and Other Abominations, Macmillan, 2009, 978-0-230-73712-9,
• BOOK, Cline, Lawrence E., The Lord's Resistance Army, ABC-CLIO, 2013, 978-1-440-82855-3,
• BOOK, Green, Matthew, The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted, Portobello Books, 2008, 978-1-84627-031-4, Matthew Green (journalist),

External links

{{Commons}}

• Hague Justice Portal: Joseph Kony {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219001708weblink |date=19 December 2011 }}
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120309200911weblink">Joseph Kony on Interpol's wanted list
• Kevin – Documentary on LRA's aftermath in Northern Uganda {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011072034weblink |date=11 October 2020 }}

{{ICC indictees (NavBox)}}{{Authority control}}